Down and out in Brussels

I have, over the years been through a number of railway stations in Europe, but by far the seediest and probably the smelliest (from urine) has to be the surrounding area around Brussels Midi.

Today, we had a couple of hours to spend because we just missed a connecting train and the following train was cancelled. So I went for a stroll in search of a blip and decided to use something reflective of the area.

We eventually caught a train heading for The Hague (and then onto Leiden in the Netherlands), a route that takes in an area just beyond Brussels Central Station that contains a street of units inhabited by scantily clad women looking for business by exhibiting themselves in the windows, a bit like Amsterdam but situated next to a busy railway line for all to see. Bizarre.

I thought of Down and Out in Brussels because of George Orwell's book 'Down and Out in Paris and London' written about his time of living on the streets in both those cities.